I share your opinions to a degree Masaka, unfortunately i think for Andy winning Wimbledon is his highest priority, there is too much at stake for him personally and with tennis history as a whole. He is our best hope for now and the forseeable future of winning it and he knows it regardless of wether he thinks we deserve a homebred Wimbledon champ or not, he will want to do it not just for himself but for us and i hasten to add he will be majorly dissapointed if he never wins it.

On the plus side though, he handles the pressure well, he always plays great there and he has now tasted what it's like to be a finalist - he's also now a slam champion so that will relieve the pressure slightly.

Equally I agree with you. Winning Wimbledon will be the icing on the cake for him. He also knows now he can win a major tournament on those courts. If he gets to another final, the stress will be far less because he has been there before and he now also knows he can win a Grand Slam.

It has to be said that given the state of male tennis in this country at the moment, I think it will probably be another 70+ years before we have another GS winner other than Mr M.

I am just a bit concerned that people seem to be starting to lay on the pressure re Wimbledon already.

How would anyone feel about Andy winning RG this year and not Wimbledon?

Well,you're never going to say no to a Slam win,are you?So in that sense it'd be awesome!

But for me personally,I'd rather see him win Wimbledon.It would just be that final monkey off his back (because I agree with Aileen,I think in the eyes of a lot of people having not won Wimbledon is a monkey on his back),it would consign the weight of British history thing to the bin forever,and it would be another of Andy's own big dreams come true.Also just selfishly for me,Wimbledon is my favourite slam,so it's one I desperately want to see him win.(Before last year's USO,it was a slam-any slam!Now I can be picky haha )

How would anyone feel about Andy winning RG this year and not Wimbledon?

For me it's definitely got to be Wimbledon. For one thing his belief that he can do it must now be very high, and at also this year he should have the majority of the crowd well and truly behind him, certainly if he makes the final.

For me it's definitely got to be Wimbledon. For one thing his belief that he can do it must now be very high, and at also this year he should have the majority of the crowd well and truly behind him, certainly if he makes the final.

Even if he plays Fed. He came so close at Wimbledon last year, and then beat him in the Olympics - and I still think he'd have beaten him at Wimby had the match continued without interruption. I know Fed has plenty of fans in the UK, which is why I used the word 'majority', but Andy did win over a whole army of new supporters after his reaction to his loss. Anyway I'll be surprised if Fed even makes the final this year.

I am just a bit concerned that people seem to be starting to lay on the pressure re Wimbledon already.

He's been under pressure to win Wimbledon as soon as he made it past the first round there years ago. It's not coming from us, it's coming from the British press, the tennis establishment and the general public. You just need to look at the newspapers during Wimbledon fortnight to see the hope and expectation.

My point was that there will be pressure on him at Wimbledon this year - as there is every year. He says that he does his best to ignore all of the hype, which is the reason I think he's more likely to want to collect his gong at this time of year than in the run up to Wimbledon. It's a ploy to reduce the pressure/expectation/hype. Mind you, he's doing a documentary to be aired by the BBC in the run-up, so he's not helping himself there!

It's straying off topic, but I think for the British public, a win at Wimbledon is the biggie. It's the biggie for most tennis players too, but I think life on the tour and in the tennis bubble means that for him, all slams are on more of a par than they are for casual British tennis fans.

He's been under pressure to win Wimbledon as soon as he made it past the first round there years ago. It's not coming from us, it's coming from the British press, the tennis establishment and the general public. You just need to look at the newspapers during Wimbledon fortnight to see the hope and expectation.

My point was that there will be pressure on him at Wimbledon this year - as there is every year. He says that he does his best to ignore all of the hype, which is the reason I think he's more likely to want to collect his gong at this time of year than in the run up to Wimbledon. It's a ploy to reduce the pressure/expectation/hype. Mind you, he's doing a documentary to be aired by the BBC in the run-up, so he's not helping himself there!

It's straying off topic, but I think for the British public, a win at Wimbledon is the biggie. It's the biggie for most tennis players too, but I think life on the tour and in the tennis bubble means that for him, all slams are on more of a par than they are for casual British tennis fans.

How would anyone feel about Andy winning RG this year and not Wimbledon?

I'd be shocked but very happy with a RG win! In a way, winning RG would be one of the greatest achievements of Andy's career, given how it's not his favourite surface.

If it was a choice between winning RG or winning Wimbledon though, I'd opt for Wimbledon every time. The tournament's got such history and prestige attached to it (as has RG, but all the players seem to put more value on winning Wimbledon), and a British player winning would be huge. And above all, I'm sure it would mean a lot to Andy himself to win a slam in front of his home fans.

I would value it more as Andy's best surface is not clay. I honestly cannot understand why Wimbledon is so highly thought of. As far as I am concerned it is just one of the Grand Slams.

It's the oldest, most prestigious and most famous tennis tournament in the world. It's the only grand slam still played on tennis's original surface; grass. It is held in London; where tennis was invented.

Response to losing the No2 spot is to hit as many balls as humanly possible before the French Open

After the ochre had been swept and the champagne glasses collected, the Monte Carlo country club echoed to the strains of Andy Murray belting his disappointment to shreds on the practice court.

He will stay until Friday, return to London for a few days rest then get back on the treadmill of the ATP Tour, with memories of defeat by Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters fading with each muscular forehand.

He is not too upset about giving up his world No2 ranking, more concerned about finding his feet on this trickiest of surfaces. The transition from hard court to clay to grass in the space of a few months is one of the enduring challenges of the game, and handling it is a science.

Overseeing the rehab of Murray's game is Ivan Lendl, who mastered clay in his playing days, while never fully coming to terms with grass. He wants Murray to hit as many balls as humanly possible, in practice and in competition in Madrid and Rome, to reach a perfect pitch at Roland Garros at the end of May. "I am just looking for volume," he said. "I think Andy understands that as well. He needs to play sets, he needs to spend time on clay. Two days ago [practising with Tomas Berdych] he was sliding and losing balance a bit, today he was better.

"It was different ball coming back from Berdych than from Dani [Vallverdu, Murray's long-time hitting partner] and me, but he looks more comfortable moving around – and that means he will hit better shots as well. If you feel like you're not moving well, you have to go for shots you wouldn't go for normally, so you can be more patient."

That was painfully evident against Wawrinka, as Murray's game slowly lost shape – although he did not have a total meltdown, as here three years ago against Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Nevertheless, he knows he was a level or two removed from Novak Djokovic, who said the first eight games of his final against Rafael Nadal were among the best he had played on clay.

Nadal's first defeat here in eight years shocked many but not Djokovic. If he stays in the mood, he will be hell to play in Paris. Murray, meanwhile, has to get his own game in shape and Lendl sees reasons to be upbeat. And, he stressed, it's far from a gloomy scene.

"Time will make him better and then he will see it and then he will believe," he said. "It's just repetition and amount. It doesn't have to be boring. We had fun today. I try to make practices fun all the time, whether the joke is on Dani or Andy or me, I don't really care as long as we can have a chuckle." Yet he knows Murray can be unnecessarily hard on him when the ball is not leaving his racket cleanly, as against Wawrinka.

"I haven't spoken to him about it," Lendl said. "I think he knows. We don't need to discuss it. I think it comes from him expecting so much. You saw it even today, he is playing for a minute and a half and he misses a shot and he gets mad at himself because he doesn't want to miss – ever. And I think what happens on the court, since he hasn't had enough time, he hits some shots then he misses some shots and plays a bad game and he gets really disappointed with himself. Then he has trouble overcoming that."

Lendl has a clear take on Murray world ranking and who will figure in the slam finals this year. "It is hard to see anybody but the top four boys," he said, "even though it could be a little different with Rafa being [seeded] fifth. That could really skew the draws. It could be that Andy ends up in the bottom half by himself, if he is seeded No2. It could be Novak playing Rafa in the quarters to play Roger in the semis and somebody beats Andy. If Rafa is seeded fifth, it could be No3 [against] No2, and all of a sudden they beat up on each other."

"I haven't spoken to him about it," Lendl said. "I think he knows. We don't need to discuss it. I think it comes from him expecting so much. You saw it even today, he is playing for a minute and a half and he misses a shot and he gets mad at himself because he doesn't want to miss – ever. "

I kinda love that Andy and Ivan's relationship is at such a stage that certain things can be communicated without being said aloud.